Nantes, France

End of week 6/ Beg of week 7

I havn’t blogged in a while and of course now it’s difficult to remember all of the fun things I’ve done but I’ve been too busy to keep up!! But I’ll start with the end of last week.

So Wednesday was our last day at the Louvre. We covered Neoclassicism and Romanticism. While we were in a gallery, I was sitting down and a guy picked up this bag next to us and asked if it was ours, ovbs it wasn’t, and then next thing we know, the Louvre workers are yelling, “évacuez, évacuez!” So we start moving to the next gallery and just hang around then we hear, “Continuez à évacuez!” So now there are 2 GIANT galleries empty and we see some Louvre Police people walk into the gallery and grab the bag after probs 10 min. 5 min later we’re allowed back into the gallery and all is well. We’re sure someone just forgot their bag on the bench. It’s sad to know that was my last class in the Louvre, I’ve gotten so used to getting there and dealing with the crowds and lines etc.

Thursday we had class at the Musée D’Orsay which used to be a railway station. It only shows art from around the times of Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. This museum had a much better feel to it than the Louvre (we went back today and I did not feel that way, at all! But more on that later…) After class, Becca, Kylie, and I went to a café down the street and then wandered around the cute shops around there. I headed back to work on my paper…Ughhhh. Doing homework in France is no fun. I wanted to go to the Australian bar with Kylie and Becca that night but because I was supposed to be gone all weekend and my paper was due Monday I stayed in to work.

The next day we went to the Chocolatier Patrick Roger to learn about chocolate. I’m pretty sure it was just an excuse for our prof to get chocolate. But it was very chic inside even if not so informative. Their flavors are very unique (basil and lime, lime, ginger etc for example) and there were chocolate sculptures. He is quite an artist. Galit and I shared a 34 euro box of probs about 20 chocolates. Yumm!

His speciality dome chocolate lime things. 4 euros each

Saturday was my trip to the Epernay and Reims in the Champagne region! That’s a whole separate post because it was probably the best day ever.

Sunday Becca and a couple other friends and myself wanted to go to Deuville on the TGV (2 hours away) to enjoy beach time but the weather wasn’t great so we stayed home. Which gave me a chance to finish my paper without staying up all night.

In Art History on Monday, after turning in our papers, we went the Musée de l’Orangerie. It’s a museum located in the Jardin des Tuilieries (one of my favorite places) that got its name from when the Jardin used to grow its own orange trees. It houses what is basically a Monet Monument. In the last 10 years of his life, he donated works to the museum so that Parisians would have a peaceful place to go in this crazy city. He never lived to see it installed but there are basically two giant rooms with huge 40 foot canvasses of the water lillies with sunsets and willows and clouds. It is really incredible to be there. And very peaceful. On the bottom floor, there is a large collection of various Impressionist artists.

After class, we walked through the Jardin to some restaurants by the Louvre. Had amazing Italian food. During the summer, there’s a carnival set up in the Jardin so we decided we should scope it out so that we can pick which rides we want to go on when we come back. We decided to go on the Ferris wheel since we thought our stomachs could handle it. The view was INCREDIBLE. It’s always amazing seeing Paris from high up. You can literally point at each monument and there’s nothing obstructing your view. The roofs of the houses are simple and the balconies are so cute. I love seeing Paris from that angle.

Carnival

Sur les troits de Paris

View of the Louvre

I had a test the next day but decided to go to a picnic on the Seine with some friends for dinner. Watched the sunset with a view of Ile-St. Louis and Notre Dame. On the way back, Yasha and I stopped at Berthillon Ice Cream which is on Ile-St. Louis. It’s supposed to be the best ice cream in Paris and I’m pretty sure Madame took Heather and me there when we were here a couple summers ago. It was amazing. I FINALLY found my perfect Mangue et Citron Vert ice creams. SUCCESS!

Yesterday after French class, I decided to go to the Bastille/Marais area to see Victor Hugo’s house cause 1. I wanted to see it anywayz and 2. Galit and I are doing our final presentation on him. Well, first of all, the weather was bad all day which was annoying and there is such good shopping in that area! I got a bit distracted with all the boutiques. There were obviously the very expensive French boutiques but there were so many reasonably priced, cute ones! Made some purchases. And then I needed to eat. By the time I was done eating, I needed to get back home so I could go to dinner then HARRY POTTER! The movie will have to be covered in a separate post.

Today we returned to the D’Orsay to look at Post-Impressionism. We didn’t have a group reservation because that area of the museum is being renovated so we had to wait in line. There were so many people there today! Super long line and super crowded museum. So we all have special Art Student cards so that we can get into the museums for free so I show the guy my card to get in and he stops me. And is asking how long I’ve been here and what I’m doing in France, how old I am, and that my card only says summer and shows it to this other lady. So now they’re both like asking me questions in French while my entire class is just walking behind them. Finally my teacher comes over and is like what is going on (but we had to be careful because you can’t bring in groups without a reservation) and there was some issue with the, apparently, new rule about letting EU citizens under 26 in for free and that there’s an issue with students and residents or something. So then I was like Okay well I am an EU citizen and pull out my British Passport (boooyah) and so they finally let me in but they were not happy. My teacher said the workers here are very arbitrary and weird about groups/people/students.

Tonight, I’m going to a play called Tu as sauvé ma vie in the 9th near the Opéra with my French class. Tomorrow is Bastille day! And Sarah Kim visits on Friday for the weekend so it should be fun!